ment through mediation shall be unsuccessful, the Mediation Board shall use its best efforts to induce the parties to submit their controversy to arbitration in accordance with the provisions of this Act. If arbitration at the request of the Mediation Board shall be refused by one or both parties, the Mediation Board shall promptly notify both parties in writing that its mediatory efforts have failed and for ten days thereafter, unless in the intervening period the parties reach an agreement or the dispute is decided by arbitration, it shall be the duty of the employer or employers and his or their employees concerned to observe and maintain the methods of employment, rates of pay, rules, working conditions, and established practices in effect prior to the time the dispute arose.

INTERPRETATION OF AGREEMENTS

SEC. 303. If a controversy arises in any case over the meaning or the application of any agreement reached through mediation under the provisions of this Act, either party to such agreement, or both, may apply to the Mediation Board for an interpretation of the meaning or application of such agreement. The Mediation Board shall, upon receipt of such request, notify the parties to the controversy and, after a hearing of both parties, pronounce its interpretation within thirty days after such hearing.

[ARBITRATION

[SEC. 304. With respect to the arbitration of disputes as provided in title IV of this Act, the Mediation Board shall have and perform the same duties as are imposed upon it by subdivisions (a), (b), (c), and (d) of paragraph 3 of section 5 of the Railway Labor Act, as amended, with respect to arbitration of disputes under the Railway Labor Act, insofar as applicable to arbitration of disputes under the provisions of this Act.]

FILING COPIES OF LABOR AGREEMENTS

SEC. [305] 304. Within sixty days after the effective date of this Act, every employer and group of employers subject to the provisions of this Act shall file with the [Mediation Board] Maritime Commission a copy of each contract with his or their employees then in effect covering methods of employment, rates of pay, rules, and working conditions: Provided, however, That those employers, referred to in clause (1) of subsection (a) of section 102 of this Act, shall not be required to file a copy of the ship's articles signed by crews of such employers' vessels, unless the [Mediation Board] Maritime Commission shall, in any case, require the filing of a copy of such ship's articles. If no contract with [any craft or a class of its employees has been entered into, the employer shall file with the [Mediation Board] Maritime Commission a statement to that effect, together with a statement of the methods of employment, rates of pay, rules, and working conditions applicable in dealing with such [craft or] class. When any new contract is executed or change is made in an existing contract with any class [or craft] of its employees covering methods of employment, rates of pay, rules, or working conditions, or in those methods of employment, rates of pay, rules, and working conditions of employees not covered by contract, each employer subject to the provisions of this Act shall file the same with the [Mediation Board] Maritime Commission within thirty days after such new contract or change in existing contract has been executed, or change in the methods of employment, rates of pay, rules, and working conditions has been made effective.

CHANGES IN LABOR AGREEMENTS

SEC. [306] 305. All employers, and representatives of employees subject to the provisions of this Act, shall give at least thirty days' written notice of the desire of either to change an existing agreement affecting methods of employment, rates of pay, rules, or working conditions, and the time and place for the beginning of a conference between the representatives of the parties interested in such desired changes shall be agreed upon within ten days after the receipt of such notice and said time shall be within the thirty days provided in said notice. In every case where such notice of desired change has been given, or conferences are being held with reference thereto, or the services of [the Mediation Board] a Mediation Board with respect thereto have been requested by either party, or [said] a Mediation Board has proffered its services, as provided in section 301, it shall be the duty of the employer and of the employees affected by such existing agreement to observe the methods of employment, rates of pay, rules, and working conditions

provided in such existing agreement until the controversy has been finally acted upon by the Mediation Board, unless a period of ten days has elapsed after termination of conferences without request for or proffer of the services of the Mediation Board.

TITLE IV. ARBITRATION

AGREEMENT TO ARBITRATE

SEC. 401. Whenever a controversy shall arise between an employer or group of employers and his or their employees which is not settled either in conference between representatives of the parties or by the appropriate division of the Ship Labor Board or through mediation, in the manner provided in the preceding titles of this Act, such controversy may, by agreement of the parties to such controversy, be submitted to the arbitration of a board of three [(or] or, if the parties to the controversy so stipulate, of [six)] six persons: Provided, however, That the failure or refusal of either party to submit a controversy to arbitration shall not be construed as a violation of any legal obligation imposed upon such party by the terms of this Act or otherwise.

CHOICE OF ARBITRATORS

SEC. 402. Such board of arbitration shall be chosen in the following manner: (a) In the case of a board of three, the employer or group of employers and the representatives of the employees, parties, respectively, to the agreement to arbitrate, shall each name one artbitraor; the two arbitrators thus chosen shall select a third arbitrator. If the arbitrator chosen by the parties shall fail to name the third arbitrator within five days after their first meeting, such third arbitrator shall be named by the [Mediation Board] Maritime Commission.

(b) In the case of a board of six, the employer or group of employers and the representatives of the employees, parties, respectively, to the agreement to arbitrate, shall each name two arbitrators; the four arbitrators thus chosen shall, by a majority vote, select the remaining two arbitrators. If the arbitrators chosen by the parties shall fail to name the two arbitrators within fifteen days after their first meeting, the said two arbitrators, or as many of them as have not been named, shall be named by the [Mediation Board] Maritime Commission.

ARBITRATION PROCEDURE

SEC. 403. (a) No arbitrator, except those chosen by the [Mediation Board, shall be incompetent] Maritime Commission, shall be ineligible to act as an arbitrator because of his interest in the controversy to be arbitrated, or because of his connection with or partiality to either of the parties to the arbitration.

(b) When the arbitrators selected by the respective parties have agreed upon the remaining arbitrator or abritrators, they shall notify the [Mediation Board] Maritime Commission, and, in the event of their failure to agree upon any or upon all of the necessary arbitrators within the period fixed by this Act, they shall, at the expiration of such period, notify the [Mediation Board] Maritime Commission of the arbitrators selected, if any, or of their failure to make or to complete such selection.

(c) The board of arbitration shall organize and select its own chairman and make all necessary rules for conducting its hearings: Provided, however, That the board of arbitration shall be bound to give the parties to the controversy a full and fair hearing, which shall include an opportunity to present evidence in support of their claims, and an opportunity to present their case in person, by counsel. or by other representative as they may respectively elect.

(d) Upon notice from the [Mediation Board] Maritime Commission that the parties, or either party, to an arbitration desires the reconvening of the board of arbitration (or a subcommittee of such board of arbitration appointed for such purpose pursuant to the agreement to arbitrate) to pass upon any controversy over the meaning or application of their award, the board, or its subcommittee, shall at once reconvene. No question other than, or in addition to, the questions relating to the meaning or application of the award, submitted by the party or parties in writing, shall be considered by the reconvened board of arbitration or its subcommittee. Such rulings shall be acknowledged by such board or subcommittee thereof in the same manner, and filed in the same district court clerk's office, as the original award and become a part thereof.

(e) The board of arbitration shall furnish a certified copy of its award to the respective parties to the controversy, and shall transmit the original, together with

the papers and proceedings and a transcript of the evidence taken at the hearings, certified under the hands of at least a majority of the arbitrators, to the clerk of the district court of the United States for the district wherein the controversy arose or the arbitration is entered into, to be filed in said clerk's office as hereinafter provided. The said board shall also furnish a certified copy of its award, and the papers and proceedings, including testimony relating thereto, to the [Mediation Board, to be filed in its office] Maritime Commission.

[COMPENSATION AND EXPENSES OF ARBITRATION

SEC. 404. (a) Each member of any board of arbitration created under the provisions of this Act named by either party to the arbitration shall be compensated by the party naming him. Each arbitrator selected by the arbitrators or named by the [Mediation Board] Maritime Commission shall receive from the [Mediation Board] Commission such compensation as the [Mediation Board] Commission may fix, together with his necessary traveling expenses and expenses actually incurred for subsistence, while serving as an arbitrator.

(b) A board of arbitration may, subject to the approval of the [Mediation Board] Maritime Commission, employ and fix the compensation of such assistants as it deems necessary in carrying on the arbitration proceedings. The compensation of such employees, together with their necessary traveling expenses and expenses actually incurred for subsistence, while so employed, and the necessary expenses of the board of arbitration, shall be paid by the [Mediation Board] Maritime Commission. Whenever practicable, the arbitration board shall be supplied with suitable quarters in any Federal building located at its place of meeting or at any place where the board may conduct its proceedings or deliberations.

WITNESSES

SEC. 405. All testimony before a board of arbitration created under the provisions of this Act shall be given under oath or affirmation, and any member of the board shall have power to administer oaths or affirmations. The board of arbitration, or any member thereof, shall have the power to require the attendance of witnesses and the production of such books, papers, contracts, agreements, and documents as may be deemed by the board material to a just determination of the matters submitted to its arbitration, and may for that purpose request the Iclerk of the district court of the United States for the district wherein said board of arbitration is sitting to issue the necessary subpenas, and upon such request the said clerk or his duly authorized deputy shall be, and he hereby is, authorized, and it shall be his duty, to issue such subpenas. In the event of the failure of any person to comply with such subpena, or in the event of the contumacy of any witness appearing before the board of arbitration, the board may invoke the aid of the United States district court in said district to compel witnesses to attend and testify and to produce such books, papers, contracts, agreements, and documents to the same extent and under the same conditions and penalties as provided for in the Act to regulate commerce approved February 4, 1887, and the amendments thereto.

Any witness appearing before a board of arbitration shall receive the same fees and mileage as witnesses in courts of the United States, to be paid by the party requesting the attendance of the witness.

CONTENTS OF ARBITRATION AGREEMENT

SEC. 406. The agreement to arbitrate (a) Shall be in writing;

(b) Shall stipulate that the arbitration is had under the provisions of this Act; (c) Shall state whether the board of arbitration is to consist of three or of six members.

(d) Shall be signed by the duly accredited representatives of the employer or group of employers and the employees, parties, respectively, to the agreement to arbitrate, and shall be acknowledged by said parties before a notary public or before the clerk of a district court or of a circuit court of appeals of the United States, [or before a member of the Mediation Board,] and, when so acknowledged, shall be filed [in the office of the Mediation Board] with the Maritime Commission;

(e) Shall state specifically the questions to be submitted to the said board for decision; and that, in its award or awards, the said board shall confine itself strictly to decisions as to the questions so specifically submitted to it;

(f) Shall provide that the questions, or any one or more of them, submitted by the parties to the board of arbitration may be withdrawn from arbitration on notice to that effect signed by the duly accredited representatives of all the parties and served on the board of arbitration;

(g) Shall stipulate that the signatures of a majority of said board of arbitration affixed to their award shall be competent to constitute a valid and binding award; (h) Shall fix a period from the date of the appointment of the arbitrator or arbitrators necessary to complete the board (as provided for in the agreement) within which the said board shall commence its hearings;

(i) Shall fix a period from the beginning of the hearings within which the said board shall make and file its award: Provided, That the parties may agree at any time upon an extension of this period;

(j) Shall provide for the date from which the award shall become effective and shall fix the period during which the award shall continue in force;

(k) Shall provide that the award of the board of arbitration and the evidence of the proceedings before the board relating thereto, when certified under the hands of at least a majority of the arbitrators, shall be filed in the clerk's office of the district court of the United States for the district wherein the controversy arose or the arbitration was entered into, which district shall be designated in the agreement; and, when so filed, such award and proceedings shall constitute the full and complete record of the arbitration;

(1) Shall provide that the award, when so filed, shall be final and conclusive upon the parties as to the facts determined by said award and as to the merits of the controversy decided;

(m) Shall provide that any difference arising as to the meaning or the application of the provisions, of an award made by a board of arbitration shall be referred back for a ruling to the same board, or by agreement, to a subcommittee of such board; and that such ruling, when acknowledged in the same manner, and filed in the same district court clerk's office, as the original award, shall be a part of and shall have the same force and effect as such original award; and

(n) Shall provide that the respective parties to the award will each faithfully. execute the same.

The said agreement to arbitrate, when properly signed and acknowledged as herein provided, shall not be revoked by a party to such agreement: Provided, however, That such agreement to arbitrate may at any time be revoked and canceled by the written agreement of both parties, signed by their duly accredited representatives, [and (if] and, if no board of arbitration has yet been constituted under the [agreement] agreement, delivered to the [Mediation Board] Maritime Commission or any member thereof; or, if the board of arbitration has been constituted as provided by this Act, delivered to such board of arbitration.

ARBITRATION AWARD

SEC. 407. (a) The award of a board of arbitration, having been acknowledged as herein provided, shall be filed in the clerk's office of the district court designated in the agreement to arbitrate.

(b) An award acknowledged and filed as herein provided shall be conclusive on the parties as to the merits and facts of the controversy submitted to arbitration, and unless, within ten days after the filing of the award, a petition to impeach the award, on the grounds hereinafter set forth, shall be filed, by one of the parties affected by the award in the clerk's office of the court in which the award has been filed, the court shall enter judgment on the award, which judgment shall be final and conclusive on the parties: Provided, That the Maritime Commission may file a petition to impeach the award upon the grounds stated in Section 503 of this Act. (c) [Such] A petition for the impeachment or contesting of any award so filed shall be entertained by the court only on one or more of the following grounds: (1) That the award plainly does not conform to the substantive requirements laid down by this Act for such awards, or that the proceedings were not substantially in conformity with this Act or that the award is contrary to the provisions of Section 501 (b) of this Act;

(2) That the award does not conform, nor confine itself, to the stipulations of the agreement to arbitrate; or

(3) That a member of the board of arbitration rendering the award was guilty of fraud or corruption; or that a party to the arbitration practiced fraud or corruption which fraud or corruption affected the result of the arbitration: Provided, however, That no court shall entertain any such petition on the ground that an 32437-37-pt. 3-3

award is invalid for [uncertainty;] uncertainty and in such case the proper remedy shall be a submission of such award to a reconvened board, or subcommittee thereof, for interpretation, as provided by this Act: Provided further, That an award contested as herein provided shall be construed liberally by the court, with a view to favoring its validity, and that no award shall be set aside for trivial irregularity or clerical error, going only to form and not to substance.

(d) If the court shall determine that a part of the award is invalid on some ground or grounds designated in this section as a ground of invalidity, but shall determine that a part of the award is valid, the court shall set aside the entire award: Provided, however, That, if the parties shall agree thereto, and if such valid and invalid parts are separable, the court shall set aside the invalid part and order judgment to stand as to the valid part.

(e) At the expiration of ten days from the decision of the district court upon the petition filed as aforesaid, final judgment shall be entered in accordance with said decision, unless during said ten days either party shall appeal therefrom to the circuit court of appeals. In such case only such portion of the record shall be transmitted to the appellate court as is necessary to the proper understanding and consideration of the questions of law presented by said petition and to be decided.

(f) The determination of said circuit court of appeals upon said questions shall be final, and, being certified by the clerk thereof to said district court, judgment pursuant thereto shall thereupon be entered by said district court.

(g) If the petitioner's contentions are finally sustained, judgment shall be entered setting aside the award in whole or, if the parties so agree, in part; but in such case the parties may agree upon a judgment to be entered disposing of the subject matter of the controversy, which judgment when entered shall have the same force and effect as judgment entered upon an award.

SEC. 408. If a dispute between an employer or group of employers and its or their employees be not adjusted under the foregoing provisions of this Act and should, in the judgment of the Maritime Commission, threaten substantially to interrupt interstate or foreign commerce to a degree such as to deprive any section of the country of essential water-transportation service, the Maritime Commission shall notify the President, who may thereupon, in his discretion, create a board to investigate and report respecting such dispute. Such board shall be composed of such number of persons as to the President may seem desirable: Provided, however, That no member appointed shall be pecuniarily or otherwise interested in any organization of employees or employers. The compensation of the members of any such board shall be fixed by the President. Such board shall be created separately in each instance and it shall investigate promptly the facts as to the dispute and make a report thereon to the President within thirty days from the date of its creation.

There is hereby authorized to be appropriated such sums as may be necessary for the expenses of such board, including the compensation, and the necessary traveling expenses and expenses actually incurred for subsistence, of the members of the board. All expenditures of the board shall be allowed and paid by the Maritime Commission on the presentation of itemized vouchers therefor approved by the chairman of such board.

After the creation of such board and for thirty days after such board has made its report to the President, no change, except by agreement, shall be made by the parties to the controversy in the conditions out of which the dispute arose.

TITLE V. GENERAL PROVISIONS

INVOLUNTARY LABOR

SEC. 501. Nothing in this Act shall be construed to require an individual employee to render labor or service without his consent, nor shall anything in this Act be construed to make the quitting of his labor or service by an individual employee an illegal act; nor shall any court issue any process to compel the performance of an individual employee of such labor or service without his consent.

UNLAWFUL ACTS; PENALTY

SEC. 502. The willful commission of any act declared in this Act to be unlawful shall constitute a misdemeanor and any person found guilty of such a misdemeanor in any district court of the United States shall be fined not less than $200 and not more than $5,000, or shall be imprisoned not more than two years, or shall be both fined and imprisoned, within the discretion of the court.